Rand Paul, Marco Rubio face 2016 bind

Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio are facing a big obstacle if they seek the White House in 2016 — and it’s not each other.

State laws could force the two GOP senators into a difficult choice: run for president or run for reelection to the Senate that same year. Because in their home states of Kentucky and Florida, neither Republican can be on the ballot for both offices at the same time.

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Rand Paul considering 2016 run

Marco Rubio on 2016 plans

It might seem like a technicality, especially so far out from 2016. But these seemingly arcane state laws could have real-world consequences for the two men — and their party’s chances of winning the White House, or taking back the Senate.

A number of states allow public officials to run for two offices at once. Joe Biden ran for reelection to the Senate in Delaware at the same time he won the vice presidency in 2008. Same for Paul Ryan in 2012, who was reelected to the House from Wisconsin even as he went down in defeat as Mitt Romney’s running mate.

Paul’s dilemma is trickier: Kentucky’s election laws are more restrictive than those in Florida. Under current law, the tea party freshman would need to file for one office by late January 2016. He could try some maneuvering to circumvent the restriction, though that could open him up to litigation or political blowback.

Rubio has more breathing room: He could wait to see whether he’s crowned the party’s nominee at the Republican National Convention before abandoning his Senate bid. But if he were to lose in November, he couldn’t go back to the Senate.

“We haven’t made any official decisions on what or how we’ll do things — until 2014,” Paul told POLITICO.

Rubio was similarly mum when asked about Florida laws.

“You’ve done more research on it than I have,” Rubio said in an interview. “I haven’t even thought about it, to be honest with you. I’m pretty busy here on a full-time basis. … My term ends in 2016 and sometime before that, I’ll have to decide whether to run for reelection, or run for something else or not run at all. … There’s plenty of time between now and then; a lot is going to happen.”

Election law experts in both states said the laws on the books couldn’t be clearer.

“It’s a resign-to-run statute, really,” said Jon Salomon, an attorney who has represented the Kentucky Board of Elections and the Kentucky secretary of state. “I don’t really see a way around it, short of amending the statute.”